I composed this piece just after I heard about the travel ban for people of my country, Iran, and five other countries. I was going to invite my parents to the U.S., but after this order, I understood there is no way for them to come to the United States for visit. I felt upset and I started playing Santour while I was thinking and crying, and from those emotions, I composed the piece “To My Beloved Motherland”.

The piece is composed in two different meters, the first part is in 2/4 and the second is in 6/8, both in F minor. I put the name “Holy Peace” because when I was working on it, I was thinking about Peace and Love as the most important things we need in the world.

I composed this piece in Nava scale, one of seven Persian music scales (Dastgah). Samaa (Turkish; Sema) is a sufi sacred dance which is performed in special rituals. The rituals are including singing, performing music and dancing and it is common in Turkey and Iran. Actually, I inspired by this fantastic dance and especially by rotation of dancers during samaa and composed “The Sound of Samaa”.

It is a solo and improvisation piece in Nava scale. In writing this piece I was inspired by old Persian music and the modal system.

I was born and raised in Ramsar, a city in northern Iran that located between Alborz mountain and Caspian Sea. My parent’s house was close to a meadow and as a kid I used to spend a lot of time there. Visiting that meadow again, after years and as an adult, remind me of childhood and with this inspiration I wrote “Dance of Meadow” in Nava scale.

The piece is the impression I get from the movement in a river. Just like a river with different speeds and movements in its way (somewhere is roaring and somewhere is quiet), “The River” is composed in different spaces of rhythm, dynamic, and movement.

Migration is my feeling of immigration. I composed the piece when I decided to move to the United States, and it was my hardest decision. I had to leave my beloved family and friends, my city, and my home. On the other hand, I was so excited to start a new life in the U.S. and all these emotions are summed up in this piece.

For this piece I inspired by modes of the gazelle’s running. Therefore, the piece is lively and fast and is composed in Homayoon Persian scale.